Biden to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by September 11

The US will not meet the May 1 deadline agreed upon by the Trump administration and the Taliban, sources say.

United States President Joe Biden will leave US troops in Afghanistan past the current May 1 deadline but will withdraw them by September 11, sources tell the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies. The new withdrawal date is the 20th anniversary of al-Qaeda’s attacks on the United States, which triggered the war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post and New York Times have also reported on Biden’s modified withdrawal date. Biden has been signaling that he would likely miss the May 1 deadline negotiated by the Donald Trump administration and the Taliban as it became clear that withdrawing the remaining 2,500 troops would be difficult and potentially unsafe.